DIY Happy Trails Trail Mix Wedding Favor

I've always loved the idea of a late night snack at the end of your wedding, something to send the guests off with for them to enjoy during the car ride home (or in the hotel room before they pass out). I also love puns. A lot. More than most people probably should.

So these Happy Trails Trail Mix Wedding Favors are perfect. Plus, they're so easy to put together.

If you want some more ideas, check out all of our wedding favor ideas.

This trail mix is perfect for guests to grab when they're leaving at the end of the night.

Just set them all out on a small table by the exit of the ballroom. Make sure to make a sign that they'll see so that they make sure to grab a bag on the way out.

Happy Trails Trail Mix Wedding Favor

Affiliate links are included in this post and A Bride On A Budget may make a small commission if you use them.

Happy Trails Trail Mix Wedding Favor Ingredients:

• Cheerios
• Granola
• Dried cranberries (you can use raisins, if you prefer)
• Sixlets
• Sandwich-sized plastic bags
• Address stickers designed to say Happy Trails

How To Make Happy Trails Trail Mix Wedding Favors:

Fill your bags with small handfuls of your items. Realistically, you can make anything into trail mix although, traditionally, it's peanuts and raisins. Because of nut allergies, you'll probably want to skip the peanuts or any sort of nuts.

Better safe than sorry.

Try to get a mix of sweet and salty, and you're good.

Personally, I like Cheerios because they're cheap (especially if you can catch a sale or just pick up the generic in bulk) and they take up a lot of room. If you choose all very small items, like granola, it will cost you more to fill the bags.

If you can lay the bag flat and have one single layer of items, you've filled it enough. You don't want to overstuff the plastic bags.

This isn't breakfast for the road, just a cute little parting gift. It shouldn't be a huge expense (and it will be if you fill each bag to the top).

Fold over the unfilled portion and tape it to the back. My bags ended up being one-third filled and the rest of the bag was folded over.

Affix the sticker on the front of the bag. I thought about using it to close the back, but then your display would show the edge of the bag. 

I used square address labels that are 2x2, which is perfect for one-third of a sandwich bag.

I designed this quick design in Canva, then printed them out at home. Simple.

See, most DIY items are about presentation. Sure, you could grab a pack of address labels from the store and print them yourself, but that rectangular shape won't take up enough real estate on these bags to make them look good.

And the thing with DIY. You don't want to run the risk of it looking cheap (and print at home address labels will run that risk).  

Sixlets (which are candy-coated chocolate-flavored candies, if you don't know), come in a variety of colors. I used the Spring mix because it's colorful and gives these trail mix bags a little pop.

You can buy these in bulk in any color you want, so you can make them match your wedding colors.

It took me under a minute to make each. If you set up an assembly line where each person have one job (one person to each trail mix item, one to close the bags and make sure the air is out, and one to affix the sticker and tape), you could knock these out in no time.

Just make sure your venue has an exit table or can turn over the welcome table to place these, and have your DJ or band make an announcement that these are available to guests.

Trust me, your guests will be talking about their trail mix the next day.

BRIDAL BABBLE: What would you put in your trail mix?

More Edible Wedding Favor Ideas
I made this trail mix as an example, but we actually did an edible favor as a send off. But, ours was a full candy bar with a ton of galvanized buckets filled with various wrapped candies. You can see our full candy buffet spread if you click that link.

This DIY Wooden Coasters Wedding Favors post is sponsored.

I'm a huge fan of edible wedding favors. If you ask my opinion about your wedding favors, I'll suggest something edible.

My second suggestion is something useful.

These DIY Wooden Coasters fall into the latter category, but they kind of go with the edible -- well, drinkable -- suggestion.

These are so incredible easy to make, but they are time consuming. So, if you already have your wedding date planned, start making these coasters now.

I say this because these are made from wood that we cut from trees in our backyard that had fallen down during a hurricane. And wood takes a long time to dry well enough to be appropriate for crafting.

Fresh cut wood needs to air dry for one year for every inch thick it is. These are cut about 1/4-inch, so we needed to air dry them for approximately three months before we could make these.

Of course, you can order natural unfinished wood slices online too if you don't want to go into your backyard and chop down trees.

DIY Wooden Coasters Wedding Favors

DIY Wooden Coasters Wedding Favors Supplies:

• Tree branch
• Miter saw
• Natural unfinished wood slices (omit the first two supplies, if using these)
• NuFun Activities Wood Transfer Paper
• Parchment paper (included with the NuFun Activities wood transfer paper pack)
• Printer
• Scissors
• Iron
• Spar urethane

How To Make DIY Wooden Coasters Wedding Favors:

To Make Your Own Wood Slices:

Start with a piece of freshly fallen down branch.

We have a lot in the backyard that fall during storms. Branches that have dried out due to time won't work because the wood will basically turn to dust when you try to cut them.

Use a miter saw to cut 1/4-inch slices of the branch.

Leave the wood slices in a warm dry area for about three months. Every few days, flip them so each side gets exposed to the air.

To Make DIY Wooden Coasters:

Measure the widest part of your coasters, omitting the bark around the outside. That's the largest you're able to make your design. The design will look better if you leave some room between the edge of the design and the edge of your coasters, so we suggest not making the design go all the way to the edge.

Now, this is the fun part. You can design your coasters however you want. You can add your wedding date and your names, but honestly, something a little more generic increases the chances that your guests will want to keep these.

I made two different designs: "bottoms up" and "cheers". You could make them more wedding themed, like, "Let's toast the couple" or, if you're having a designation wedding, you could print an image of the state/country you're in with the words, "Take home a piece of (insert town here)" assuming, of course, your wood is actually from there.

If you have some graphic design skills, you can design your coaster images using a free design website, like Canva.com. That's what I used. If you don't have any design skills, the graphic I created is below.

To use that, just right click it and save it to your computer. 

Print the image on the NuFun Activities Wood Transfer Paper. You do not want to mirror the image when you print it. You want to print it as is.

If you've ever use transfer paper to make something like a homemade t-shirt, this is the opposite of how you print those. With that type of iron-on transfer paper, you mirror the image when you print it. Not with this transfer paper.

Cut your design from the transfer paper. You want to cut as close to the design as possible. There will be white remaining around the design, but that's okay.

Peel the liner from the back of the transfer paper.

Side note: This is a little difficult to do at first. I was able to separate them with a little pressure and my nails. It does start to get easier once you get the hang of it.

Place the coaster design exactly where you want it to lay on the wood slice you cut or natural unfinished wood slices.

Place the parchment paper on top of the design.

Use an iron to apply firm, even pressure on the parchment paper.

Alternating between holding the iron on top of the parchment paper and leaving it there is your best bet. You can slightly move the iron and back and forth over the parchment paper.

Remove the parchment paper to check on your design. The white around the design will be completely translucent when you're done ironing, leaving only the design behind. If there's still white remaining, keep ironing.

Set the coaster aside and continue until you've made all your coasters. Let them cool completely.

What's really cool is as the coasters get heated up, the rings from the wood get really defined. I think this is actually the sap coming through the rings, but I'm not an dendrologist, so don't quote me.

I know this for sure happens with the fresh wood you cut on your own, since that's what we used. I don't know for sure if it happens with the natural unfinished wood slices you purchase online. If it does let us know.

The definition that comes out looks amazing. I love how it adds a different dimension to the coasters. The backside of the coasters get this definition too, which is cool.

Bring the coasters outside and spray them with spar urethane. This will protect them from spills and condensation from glasses. Let them dry outside for an hour before touching them.

To Package Wooden Coasters As Wedding Favors:

When you're ready to package these as wedding favors, place two coasters in an 4x6-inch organza bag. Make sure the color of your organza bags matches your wedding colors.

Set one organza bag on each place setting at your wedding.

Free Wooden Coasters Wedding Favors Printable:

If you want to use the printable we created, just right click the image above (it has no border so it will print properly).

It's formatted to be printed on an 8.5x11-inch sheet of NuFun Activities Wood Transfer Paper.

How much does it cost to make Wooden Coasters Wedding Favors?

Each pack of NuFun Activities Wood Transfer Paper comes with 25 sheets of transfer paper and 5 sheets of parchment paper. Each of our free printables has designs for eight coasters. So you can 200 coasters per pack.

If you put two coasters per organza bag, as we suggest, that's 100 wedding favors from one pack of paper.

As far as costs go, the pack of NuFun Activities Wood Transfer Paper is under $10. You can get 100 organza bags for about $7. And the wood, if you cut it like we did, is free. That means you can make 100 beautiful, handmade favors for under $20.

Amazing.

Purchase Wooden Coasters Wedding Favors:

If you love the ideas of these wooden coasters as your wedding favors, but you don't want to make them yourself, that's okay. You can purchase wooden coasters wedding favors online.

Some of our favorites are below:

• Custom wedding coasters
• Personalized coasters with custom engraving
• Farmhouse coasters wedding favors

More DIY Favor Ideas:

If you're looking for more DIY favor ideas, we have a few you might love below:

• Let Love Bloom Seed Bomb Wedding Favors
• Homemade Spicy Salt Wedding Favors
• DIY Glitter Wine Glasses

BRIDAL BABBLE: What would you print on your DIY Wooden Coasters Wedding Favors?

This DIY Bridesmaid Manicure Gift Bags posy is not sponsored.

I had a saying when it came to wedding stuff: If I can do it myself, I'm going to do it myself.

There were a lot of things on Pinterest that I fell in love with, but knew were made by a professional. Sure they're on Pinterest, but, as we've discussed before, not everything on Pinterest was done by the person who pinned it. So don't let it intimidate you. Don't feel like you have to DIY your entire wedding. That's ridiculous and time consuming and will make you absolutely hate the wedding planning process.

But the things you can do, absolutely do them yourself. Like these bridesmaid manicure gift bags that I put together in a grand total of 45 seconds.

DIY Bridesmaid Manicure Gift Bags

With the way the world is right now, these manicure gift bags are absolutely perfect for your bridesmaids. 

Many of your bridesmaids may not feel comfortable sitting in a nail salon, getting their nails done around a lot of people. And if they don't, you have to respect that.

Of course, these are things you have to think about when you're planning a wedding right now. Things you didn't have to think about way back in 2019.

So feel your bridesmaids out. And if they don't feel okay sitting indoors for an hour getting a mani/pedi, these bridesmaids manicure gift bags are perfect to gift them.

When you're shopping for the items for these gift bags, you could buy the color that you would like the girls to wear. That way, you know they'll all be matching on your wedding day, even if you're not all getting your nails done together.

When you're buying the lotion, organza bags, paper shred, and lotion, you can choose items that match the color family of the nail polish. That way, your entire gift is coordinated and looks like you spent a lot of time on it. More than that aforementioned 45 seconds.

DIY Bridesmaid Manicure Gift Bags Supplies:

• Paper shred
• Organza bag
• Colored nail polish
• Clear nail polish
• Nail file
• Nail polish remover
• Cotton balls
• Trial-size body lotion
• Card stock
• Scissors
• Marker
• Tape

How To Make DIY Bridesmaid Manicure Gift Bags:

Put a handful of paper shred in the bottom of the organza bag.

Here's my secret about paper shred. It always makes a gift look professionally made. I don't know why, but it gives off that illusion.

And anything that you handmake, you want it to look professionally made. It's 100% okay to DIY parts of your wedding. I did it. And heck, I have an entire blog basically dedicated to it.

But, it's not okay to make your wedding look handmade. You want to make things, but give people the impression that you bought said things.

Paper shred, as opposed to tissue paper, absolutely helps with that impression. 

Fill the bag with the nail file, nail polish remover, lotion, cotton balls, and nail polishes.

You want to layer the bag so the tallest item (in our case, the nail polish remover) is in the back and the shortest items (in our case, the nail polishes) are in the front.

Pull the strings of the organza bag to close it.

Cut a tag shape from a piece of white card stock.

Use the marker to write "mani thanks" on the tag and tape it to the front of the bag.

That's it. 

It's crazy how simple this is. You really could go crazy and design personalized labels for the lotion and nail polish remover, but I don't really recommend it. The point of this is that it looks awesome and is quick and easy. Anything you do to complicate it will take away from it being quick and easy. And then you might not actually want to make these for your bridesmaids.

What else can you add to these bridal party Manicure Gift Bags?

If you want to fill these up even more, you could add toe separators, although personally I don't like those, so I didn't add those to my gift bags.

You could also add a nail buffer, if you think your bridesmaids would use one of those.

You could also add this Nails B4 Males manicure toolkit. It comes with nail clippers, cuticle nippers, tweezers, a cuticle pusher/cleaner, and a glass nail file. Skip the separate nail file we mentioned above, and just add this cute vegan pouch in the bag instead.

Should a bride pay for her bridesmaids' manicures?

While we're on the topic of wedding manicures, let's talk about wedding etiquette. A bride should absolutely buy her bridesmaids a wedding thank you gift. But that gift doesn't have to be wedding nails, and it generally isn't.

If a bride invites all her bridesmaids to get their nails done together at a certain time at a certain salon, and the bride is choosing the color, then she should pay for the manicures. But, if each bridesmaid is going to get her nails done on her own, the bridesmaid should pay for her own nails. The bride shouldn't feel the need to Venmo her bridesmaids the cost of their mani/pedi.

For my wedding, none of my bridesmaids were able to come with me to get my nails done, except my maid of honor. So she and I had a solid 90 minutes or so of time alone, just us, to be pampered, the day before my rehearsal dinner.

That night, we were actually having a full barbecue at the hotel we blocked for our wedding guests, so it was nice to get our nails done before that pre-wedding party and for the rehearsal dinner the next day (and the wedding, of course).

My maid of honor was really sweet. Since it was just the two of us, she treated me to my mani/pedi (and actually to my eyebrow waxing too, since I did it at the same time). That was really sweet of her and very unexpected.

So if you're a maid of honor, think of budgeting for this surprise for the bride, if you can afford it.

BRIDAL BABBLE: What else would you add to these DIY bridesmaid manicure gift bags if you were making them?

If you love this Homemade Fudge Wedding Favor recipe, be sure to Yum it here: Yum

My mom makes homemade fudge every Christmas to go with her famous cookie platters. It's one of those treats that you sneak into the fridge for. You know, the kind of treat that you take, then move everything in the container around a little bit to cover the empty spot your sneaky hands just created.

I never made it myself, though, until 2015.

See, it rained for about ten days in a row here, and Pete and I braved the hurricane and flooding to pick up some groceries. So of course, we had to pick up the ingredients to make homemade fudge.

Because calories don't count during a hurricane.

As I was making it, I realized what a perfect wedding favor this would be and, thus, this post was born.

Homemade Fudge Wedding Favor

This recipe below is for basic homemade fudge. You can use this as a base for all different sorts of fudge.

I have a couple examples of fudge varieties at the end of this post, so be sure to check those out after you have the basic recipe down.

Homemade Fudge Wedding Favor Recipe:

What You'll Need:

• 1 can of sweetened condensed milk
• 3 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 teaspoon real vanilla

What You'll Do:


Combine the chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk in microwave safe bowl.

Microwave it for one minute.

Add in the vanilla. Stir until all the ingredients are combined and the mixture starts getting thick.

If the chocolate chips aren't melted completely, you can add the bowl back into the microwave at 30 second intervals.


Pour the bowl's contents into a foil-lined 8x8 cake pan. Spread it out evenly.

Chill it in the fridge, at least two hours.

Cut into bite-sized 1-inch pieces. This recipe will make 64 1-inch pieces.


Resist the temptation to eat the entire batch. I know, it's hard.

Try. To. Be. Strong.

You have a wedding dress to fit into, after all.

How To Package Homemade Fudge

What You'll Need:

• Fudge (or what's left of your batch, anyway)
• Baker's twine
• Butcher paper
• Scissors

What You'll Do:


Cut the butcher paper into 4x4 inch squares.

Put a piece of fudge in the center of the paper square. Fold two opposite sides to the middle. Fold the other two sides in. Set aside.

Do this three times, with three pieces of fudge, then stack those three pieces.

Tie a piece of baker's twine around it. Tie a thank you tag to it when you get to the top, then use the excess twine make a bow atop.

How absolutely adorable would that look at everyone's seats?

This homemade fudge wedding favor recipe makes 64 pieces. So that's about 21 favors per batch. If you're having 100 guests at your wedding, you need to make four batches to complete your favors.

This fudge was so easy to make and Pete and I actually made it together, so this sounds like a good bonding experience for you and your fiance.

Homemade Wedding Fudge Varieties

Now that you have the basic homemade fudge recipe down, you can work on varieties.

Some of our favorite homemade fudge varieties are:

• S'mores Fudge
• Rocky Road Fudge
• Peanut Butter Fudge
• Chocolate Covered Cherry Fudge
• White Chocolate Cherry Fudge

You can add nuts -- although, if you're doing this as a favor, I would avoid those because people may have allergies -- candy cane, marshmallows ... you could use white chips, peanut butter chips ... I mean, really, your possibilities are pretty endless.

If you want the additions of those things to be mix ins, stir them in after you have melted the chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk in the microwave. That way, they'll be in the mixture when you pour it into your pan.

If you want them to be toppings, pour the fudge into the pan and spread it evenly first, then add your toppings on top of the fudge while it's still warm.

Use the back of a fork to press the toppings into the fudge.

If you don't push the toppings into the fudge before cooling it, there is a very good chance that they'll fall off and won't actually stick into your fudge.

How To Make Fudge In Your Wedding Colors

This could actually end up being its own post, honestly. But for now, we're going to just give you a quick overview of what you could do to make two toned fudge.

Also, we're pretending you have two wedding colors (so it will look like the image above, just without the candy on top). If you have more colors, you can just adapt this to include more colors.

Two Tone Fudge:

Start with 1 can of sweetened condensed milk, 3 cups of white chocolate chips, and food coloring in your wedding colors.

Split the white chocolate chips between two bowls. Pour the sweetened condensed milk between both bowls. Set one aside.

Take one of the bowls and microwave it for one minute. Stir until the chocolate has melted. Add a few drops of your first food coloring to the mixture, then stir to combine.

Pour the mixture into a foil lined 8x8 pan, spread it evenly, and put it in the fridge for at least two hours.

After it has chilled, microwave the bowl you set aside. Add your second food coloring color to this mixture.

Carefully pour the second color on top of the first color and spread it evenly. Put this back in the fridge to chill at least two hours before cutting.

Just like the fudge above, you can wrap it in butcher paper and twine. Definitely choose twine that matches your wedding colors if you do that. But, since you went through all the trouble of making this match your wedding colors, you should just buy clear, cellophane treat bags and package them in those so everyone can see your hard work. You can even get a foil twist tie to match your wedding colors.

BRIDAL BABBLE: What would you put in your homemade fudge wedding favor?

DIY Photo Banner

Update: Right now, you can get a free 8x10 print from CVS with the code CUPID. It's a good time to print out the main photo for this DIY photo banner.

I love pictures. I had so many on my last phone that I had to delete an app or two if I wanted to take any more pictures. Really, my dinosaur of a phone was basically an oversized SD card.

I think a lot of people are like that too.

But, lots of photos on your phone comes in handy when you're planning your wedding and can quickly open a photo app and print pictures to create a DIY photo banner.

DIY Photo Banner

I've seen this done two ways. You can either print pictures of you as a couple or you can print photos of each of you growing up until now. The latter is really cute if you met each other later in life. That way, your family and friends can see your fiance as a child and vice versa. If you have grown up together, photos as a couple works better because then you're giving your guests a glimpse into your life.

What You'll Need:

• Chair sash
• Photos
• Clothespins
• Command hooks
• "Every Love Story Is Beautiful But Ours Is My Favorite" free printable (see below)

What You'll Do:

Print your photos. 

Hang the fabric on a wall in your venue. I used a chair sash and hung it with Command hooks (using a quick knot) since you can pull them down without leaving behind holes.You could go with something like jute cording, but I would worry about the clothespins slipping during the reception and you having photos all over the floor by the end of the night.

Quick aside: Be sure to double check that you're able to do this. Venues have their own rules about hanging things. So before you spend money printing photos, ask your venue if it's okay to hang -- and how they advise you do it.

Affix clothespins to each of the photos. You want clothespins instead of anything that involves glue, especially if you borrowed these from baby books.

Attach the clothespins to the fabric ribbon. Put the "Every Love Story Is Beautiful But Ours Is My Favorite" free printable in the middle and scatter the other photos around it.

Now, about that printable. I actually made it for you already so you don't have to. Just click the image below, save it to your computer, and then print it as an 8x10. I would print it somewhere like Walgreens photo instead of at home, so it's on photo paper, matches the other photos, and doesn't waste all your ink.

BRIDAL BABBLE: Would you make this DIY photo banner for your wedding?

Free Trust Me You Can Dance - Vodka Sign

UPDATE: Head to the end of this Free Trust Me You Can Dance - Vodka Sign post to get the printable and a code to get a free 8x10 at Walgreens, valid until February 4, 2020.

I dance. A lot. All the time. By myself, around Pete, at our wedding.

I wouldn't ever say I can dance. I remember being at a sweet sixteen in high school and having a few of my friends try really hard to teach me how to swing my hips to the beat. But my beat and the song's beat aren't always the same.

And that's me sober.

I laugh at myself though and have  a good time because life is too fun to take seriously all the time. Especially at weddings. If your guests have trouble loosening up, you're not alone. A lot of guests start stiff. Open bars help ... and that's probably where the "You can dance - Vodka" quote came from.

If you've been on Pinterest, you've definitely seen that quote. It can be expensive to order it, though, s so I actually made a free printable sign for you with that exact quote. You can print it, put it in an 8x10 picture frame, and stand it at the bar at your wedding. It'll make your guests laugh, order vodka, and dance.

It's formatted to be 8x10 so you're gonna want to print it somewhere like Walgreens. Actually, right now, you can get a free 8x10 at Walgreens with the code FREEBIE8X10.

If you want to use this for your wedding, you can crop it after you upload it and cut off my watermark. That's fine with me. You just can't reproduce my design without the watermark for anything but your wedding.

Our watermark doesn't appear on the items we have in our shop on CafePress. You can get the item on shot glasses, flasks, mugs and more. Sounds like the perfect gift for your vodka loving friends. Plus, you can save 15% right now with the code EXTRA15.

BRIDAL BABBLE: Would you hang this Trust Me You Can Dance - Vodka sign at your wedding?

Love this design?

Purchase our design on shot glasses, flasks, and more here.

Wishing Jar Guest Book Idea

A wishing jar guest book idea is super fun. We did something similar for our engagement party with a "Wedding Advice" box. It was really cute to see what everyone came up with.

I was in the dollar store recently and saw this cute wishing jar. It was the perfect wedding guest book.

Of course, me being me, I know you can make it. Sure, sure. It was only a dollar at the dollar store, but what kind of blog post would this be if I didn't tell you how to make it yourself.

Wishing Jar Guest Book Idea

What You'll Need:

• Mason jar
• Jute cording
• Black card stock
• Silver marker
• Scissors
• Tag-shaped paper punch
• Single-hole punch

What You'll Do:

Use the tag-shaped paper punch to cut a tag from the black card stock.

You can, of course, cut this out with scissors too and not use the paper punch. That's fine. But let me tell you. We got a tag-shaped paper punch when we were wedding planning, mostly because we were planning a destination wedding for everyone but us. Almost all of our guests were traveling from out of state, so we have a lot of travel-themed accents. So we used this tag-shaped paper punch a bunch of times because it looks like a luggage tag.

But, after that, we've used it so much too. Every time Christmas rolls around, I pull out that tag-shaped paper punch and use it to make gift tags. So if you're hemming and hawing about buying a paper punch for wedding crafts, I assure you that you'll use it after.

Anyway ... cut the tag.

Use the hole punch to punch a hole in the top of the tag.

Draw some embellishments on the tag, then (if you want to follow this wishing jar completely), write the following on the tag: "Wishing jar: Add your wishes or messages to the wish jar"

Cut a long piece of the jute cording. Wrap it around the lid of the mason jar a few times, then string it through the hole in the tag. Tie it.

That's it. Your DIY Wishing Jar Guest Book is made. Well, that portion anyway.

For your wedding day, cut our large pieces of the black card stock. Leave the card stock, silver pen, and the Wishing Jar Guest Book out at the entrance table near the escort cards.

Your guests will see it as they pick up their escort cards and jot a wish for you and your husband.

If you would prefer to just buy a wishing jar, you can buy one below.



BRIDAL BABBLE: Would you rather make or buy this Wishing Jar Guest Book?